The calls for regulation of the cryptocurrency industry has been loud and clear over the years. Unlike the securities exhanges in most countries which are regulated under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), cryptocurrency exchanges exist under no such arrangement.
Although some cryptocurrency exhanges are licensed to operate in some countries, some exhanges are not licensed, and are operating illegally.
Outside the much talked-about regulations by governments, some exchanges have tried to self regulate and impose governance policies on their customers. For instance, there is the KYC (Know Your Customer) policy in which they identity their customers, do the due diligence on them, and engage in monitoring their transactions.
These efforts are germane, but not enough. It is because of this that the need for regulations have been harped upon.
The latest attempt at regulation is by the European Union (EU), which has pronounced to bring an end to anonymous wallets by year 2024. The dilemma about cryptocurrency is that, in so much as it has made the international transfer of funds easy and seamless, it has been used for fraud and money laundering, with possibility it could be used to finance terrorism.
Against this background, the question to asked - Is regulation good for cryptocurrency? My answer is that regulation is a welcome development to weed out the bad characters in the system. But over-regulation could be bad and not good for the system.
